Off-duty garda thwarts cash-in-transit robbery

An unarmed, off-duty garda had a gun pointed at him, while other gardaí tackled a man armed with a hatchet in two separate incidents over a 24-hour period.

In the first incident, the off-duty member thwarted an armed robbery at around 12pm on Monday.

The garda was at a shopping centre in Ratoath, Co Meath, when he saw a man brandishing what appeared to be a firearm at a security man who was collecting cash from the centre.